Sometimes money can buy happiness
by its-a-terrible-day-for-rain
Summary: Watching the one you love fall apart in front of you're eyes is the worst pain you could ever feel. And when they've been drugged, tortured, beaten and abused and its all because you couldn't save them? That is simply unbearable.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! So this is my first RoyxEd fic! I've actually written a plan for this so I (hopefully) wont go off track, it's looking to be around 20 chapters or so long. This will be M for violence, swearing, sex, rape and torture and drug addiction so if you don't want to read those things then I advise you don't read this story. For those of you who still wish to read on then I would be so very happy if you would review!

This chapter isn't the best, seems a little slow but it's just some context, so bear with if you can! And with that I'll leave you to read. Enjoy!

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Sometimes money can buy happiness

Chapter 1

After the Promised Day a lot had changed for many people in Amestris. Edward had his arm back, Alphonse was back in his body and Roy had been promoted to General, his trusty team all bumping up a rank also. Of course there were some sad moments too; Ed and Al's father Hohenheim had passed away. The boys were happy though, that their parents were able to be together again, at least now their mother wouldn't be so lonely looking down at her sons growing up. Also the newest friends from Xing had left, needing to return to their own country to sort out the political affairs there. However Roy's mind was focused on the empty bar stool beside him, which was once filled by the presence of his best friend, Maes Hughes.

Hughes was meant to support him all the way to the top; he should have been there to help with the take-over of central. He should still be alive, to watch his little girl grow up and to fill the empty space in his widows bed. He should still be alive to fill the hole in Roy's heart. Sighing, Roy downed his drink (a large glass of whiskey), left a tip at the bar and grabbed his coat to make a move towards his hotel.

After Amestris had settled down, Roy had requested to the Fuhrer that he and his team leave with the Ishvalans that had helped them, so that they could all return to Ishval in the hope of aiding the rebuilding. The request had been approved and the team had currently been stationed in Ishval for 3 weeks now, all staying in a small inn together. It had been difficult at first, many Ishvalans trying their best not to get involved with Amestrians, still not trusting them, understandably. However the team continued. As time went on, the population slowly began to accept their help, not putting their trust in them, but accepting their presence. Although not much, this was a huge step towards bridging the gap between the two cultures.

The street was dark now. Roy wasn't sure how long he'd been in the small bar drinking alone. _Riza's going to blow a fuse when I get back_. He'd forgotten to tell her where he was going, or that he was even going anywhere at all, he had left the inn, passing her and Havoc as he left, not even making eye contact. He knew he should have said something, the team had been worrying about him lately and he knew this. They knew how much he was missing his friend, how large a loss he was, however there was nothing they could do to alleviate this feeling inside Roy; they couldn't force him to hurry up and deal with the feelings, they would have to wait for Roy to let them in before they could help him slowly. No he would never forget Hughes and the pain would always be there, however he could learn to accept the loss.

Walking down the street, Roy noticed that the usually quiets streets contained a few more characters than usual, all looking Roy's way. Though this wasn't unusual, seeing as he was in his uniform, however it still felt slightly unnerving to the soldier, yet Roy carried on walking. Five minutes later and he stood outside the door to the inn. He was contemplating what to say to his friends and co-workers inside as he slowly lifted his hand to the door handle. A slight whispering behind him caused Roy to turn around, simple curiosity orchestrating the movement. As he turned his curiosity turned to slight paranoia as he saw a small group of around 6 men looking directly at him, one of them lowering their arm, suggesting it had been raised, pointed at Roy. Deciding it was merely the four large whiskeys and his normal unrest from being in Ishval that were causing him to overthink the situation, Roy pushed open the inn door and made his way inside.

Roy Mustangs face contorted with a mix of happiness and guilt as he witnessed Colonel Hawkeye's and Colonel Havoc's sleeping figures in the downstairs lounge area of the inn. "They worried, determined to wait up till you came back, to make sure you were ok. Guess their panicking caused them to get tired quicker." Ed's snickering frame turned from the chair he was on to look at his superior as he spoke.

"That wasn't necessary." Roy replied, making his way to the set of steps leading to the bedrooms. "Might not have been, if you had told them where you were heading. Look Mustang, you've been acting sad lately, and we all understand. But you need to let them in, they're meant to be your friends, not just your lackeys." Ed's words stung slightly. Roy knew he was being selfish by wallowing in his depression and not allowing the help that was being offered to him, but part of him felt that it was his feelings that kept him close to Hughes, the constant remembrance of his friend keeping the image alive. Not sure what to say, Roy didn't answer, however he held eye contact with Ed a little longer as a way of showing that he had taken in what he had said.

"Well, I guess I should head up, wake those two up and get them to bed, and then you get some sleep too." Lately Roy and Ed had been getting along better seeing as they had been working together more. Both slowly realising that they didn't hate the other as much as they used to pretend to.

"See you in the morning then Fullmetal." Both still stuck to the names they were most familiar with, slightly wishing to go back to the old, slightly easier times, where the hardest days were the ones with the most paperwork and explosions. Giving a small nod, Ed stood and left.

Roy watched the younger leave, then sighed as he turned towards the two sleeping figures. "Geez, I thought you guys were meant to look after me?" giving a little chuckle as he spoke. He woke the two up, who were too sleepy to talk, took them up to their rooms then settled into his own bed and swiftly falling asleep.

Roy woke up to a loud crashing noise and harsh shouts. Bolting awake he ran to the calls of his comrades, who were trying to gather their group together in one room and get organised. "What the hell is going on?!" Roy shouted over the noise, the question aimed at Hawkeye who was loading her gun.

"It's pretty obvious Sir. We're under attack!" Riza shot back with a sarcastic tone. Roy scowled and began loading his gun. Havoc ran into the room "They've started a fire, we've got to move now or we're dead." Ed and Al darted in to the room behind Havoc, both with already loaded guns in their hands. "We're here Sir!" They shouted. Fuery was on the radio set trying to see if there were any back up units close enough to come help, Breda running through a channel booklet to assist Fuery. Havoc and Riza were coming up with a plan of attack whilst Ed was arguing with Al, trying to get him to stay in the middle of the group for his own safety. It had been so long since they were in the defensive position and Roy was not sure how to handle the moment, but he decided all he could do was his best attempt.

"Alright, we all need to move, they know where we are and chances are that they want us to come to them, hence why they started the fire. The best move would be to move down to the second floor of the inn, jump out the window in the east end onto the concrete shed outside then attack them from behind." The team were silent for a moment after Mustang had finished. Finally a smile crept onto Riza's face.

"Yes Sir." She knew he was back.

The team followed the orders, attempting to move as quickly as possible, some shouting fake information to confuse the attackers. Soon enough they were all darting around from the concrete shed to the front doors of the inn, finally coming face to face with the assailants. They had been expecting only a small opposition force however the team ended up face to face with a much larger, much more diverse group. The group was not only made up of Ishvalans as Roy had imagined, but there were people from all regions it seemed. Roy was able to tell from the different skin colours and facial features along with the ranging accents. _Why are they all here? What do they want? _

The battle began, bullets and fists flew everywhere, blood splattered and cries rang out. The team split up, Fuery and Breda dove straight through the battle to take the west side. Ed and Al headed straight to take the east side, whilst Riza, Havoc and Roy focused on immersing themselves in the centre of the fight. The team of seven took on at least 50 attackers, all a bit rusty seeing as all hadn't fought in a while. One attacker slammed the butt of his gun into Riza's head; in retaliation she crashed her fist into the man's gut as she fell. Havoc's nose cracked as a fist collided with his face, he reeled backwards into Roy, the move actually pushing him out of the way of an on-coming bullet. Roy's eyes met with Al's as he fell into the east quadrant of the fight, seeing that the centre fight was taking its toll on the General, Al ran past Roy to switch. "Ed! Watch the General!" Al exclaimed over his shoulder. "Gotcha!" was Ed's reply with a smirk.

"Getting too old Mustang?" Ed shouted, avoiding a fist swinging his way, grabbing the man's arm and snapping his elbow with his forearms.

"Are you kidding me Fullmetal? I haven't felt this young in years!" was Mustang's reply, giving his quirky grin in return. However his face fell when one of the attackers grabbed Ed's braid, pulling his head back. "'Ey boys! We gotta pretty lil' bitch 'ere!" He roared.

"Get off me you bastard or I swear I'll kill you!" Ed spat through his teeth, wiggling his body trying to get out of the man's grasp. The attacker bashed his elbow onto the back of Ed's neck.

His eye's went blank, the last thing he heard was someone screaming "Fullmetal!"


	2. Chapter 2

Ok so here's where things get M- rated. Just a forewarning.

Oh and I forgot to say last time! Disclaimer- I own nothing to do with the rights or characters of FMA, so no suing please!

And with that, carry on and please review x

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Chapter 2

_Fuucckk. Ow…_

"'Ey Big Guy! Looks like the lil' fella's waking up!"

_Who the hell's that? And why d'they have to shout? Fuck my head hurts. _

"C'mon lil' one, time to wake up now, the big guy's pretty happy to see ya." The man spoke with a thick sarcastic tone.

Ed tried to open his eyes, the simple task extremely difficult for the boy. The pain running down his spine, stretching over his arms and shoulders and down into his knees beginning to help wake up his brain. _What's going on?_

Coming slowly to his senses Ed realised he was not at the inn. Instead he was in a small stone cell on his knees. Chains shackled on either wrist pulling his arms up away from his body, stretching out his small, yet lean, figure. Standing by the rickety wooden door to his cell was a man he recognised slightly, not realising for a moment where he knew the man from.

_Wait wasn't he outside the inn? Wh-when the attack came? Fuck what happened to me, did we lose?_

Ed wanted to scream and shout at his captors, to demand answers; however he was parched, his throat was so dry it hurt to swallow. He didn't trust his voice not to crack at the moment; he'd rather prefer to be seen as a tough silent guy than a scared little boy; so instead he tried to take in all of the features of the man standing in front of him. So he could track him down and kill the bastard later. He was a large built man, in between muscle and fat, overall he looked bloody strong, however that wasn't phasing Ed's temper. He was going bald and had a mouth of mismatched, broken and black teeth. It was obvious that this guy was some gutter rat but he had been calling for another person. _Are they a mob? Political activists? Hell what's this guy's beef with me? _

"What're ya staring at kid?" The man walked forward and grabbed Ed by the chin, squeezing Ed's face between his chubby fingers. "D'ya like what you see?" The man leaned down, moving his face closer to Ed's whilst Ed tried to break away, but the man's grasp was too tight.

"Leave him."

The two words echoed in the small room. The definite, deep command voiced by the unknown man made the guy holding Ed release his grasp. Ed was able to catch a small smirk on the man's face before he pulled away from Ed. "He's all yours Big Guy. I wish we coulda had a lil' fun with him 'fore he was broke though." The man shrugged his shoulders and left the room, leaving only Ed and the 'Big Guy'.

"Here drink this." The man held a water bottle up to Ed's mouth. Slowly, unsurely, Ed leaned forward and took a sip. After accepting that it was just water he began to try gulping down the liquid to quench his thirst.

_Is he the boss here? _

Water began to dribble down Ed's chin as he rushed to drink the water. After finishing the bottle the Big Guy moved away from Ed, turning to sit on a small stool in the cell, putting the water bottle onto the floor.

"My, My. I guess I'll have to thank Rob for picking you up. Quite the beauty, aren't you? I know people who'll pay a lot for a boy like you." A grin crept across the man's face, clasping his fingers together in front of him as he leaned forward.

Ed's anger had boiled up quickly, not only had these men chained him up like an animal, they demeaned him and were thinking of selling him? _Fat chance you'll get away with that you bastard. _

"Who are you?" Ed finally spoke, trying to make his voice sound intimidating.

"Ah so he speaks too? Such a beautiful voice, but you'll have to learn to keep quiet little one." The grin on the man's face slowly morphed into a sadistic smirk. "I guess that will be one of your first lessons. Don't speak, unless you are specifically asked too."

"Screw you!" Ed's anger had turned to rage. _Who the FUCK is this guy?! What lessons? WHATS GOING ON!?_

"Aha, a dirty little mouth too. The buyers will _love _that. But I guess I should tell you what is going on." _Finally._

"You now belong to us. Your past is irrelevant. You will be trained up to the highest standard then sold to the highest bidder. You will call me Master and do as I say, if not you will be punished. Quite simple really." The man's smirk turned to a genuine, sickly smile. Ed wasn't sure what he was hearing? _Trained? Sold? _What did all of this mean? _What, am I some kinda maid now?!_

Ed whispered something under his breath.

"What was that?" The man's face suddenly dropped to a stern look. Ed simply lifted his head and smirked. _I'm in control here you bastard. _

Ed didn't answer; he just kept direct eye contact with the Big Guy. The man walked towards Ed and grabbed his face the same way the previous man had.

"What. Did. You. Say?" The man's grip tightened on every word, but hell if Ed was giving in. He'd had his leg and arm torn off by the portal of Truth! This was child's play in comparison. Ed stare into the man's eyes, determined to win the stare-off.

"Fine." The Big Guy released Ed from his grasp. He walked backwards a few steps, beginning to unbutton his black button-down shirt. "I guess the real lessons begin now then."

Confusion swept over Ed. _Wait what's he doing? Why's he undressing? _Slight panic flushed over Ed, never being in this situation before- heck not even knowing what this situation was- was beginning to scare him, though he would never admit it.

Before long the man had worked off his shirt and was beginning to unbutton his trousers. "Don't think we'll start easy, being a whore is a difficult task which you should learn the hard way."

_A whore… Oh shit no…_

"Don't you fucking come near me!" Ed began struggling in the chains.

The Big Guy was now standing naked in front of Ed. Understanding where his name came from.

"Get away you bastard!"

He was moving closer, holding his hard-on in his hand.

"You'll sell more if you're a virgin, but that doesn't mean I can't fuck your mouth to keep you quiet. Maybe this way you'll learn who's in charge here."

"I'll kill you! Get awa-mmpf!" The man grabbed Ed's face once again, squeezing his cheeks until his mouth had opened wide enough, and shoved his dick inside. The younger was in shock, wrestling to get out of the chains and beat the man above him into a pulp. He didn't understand what was going on, why was the man doing this to him?

Ed wanted to puke, the man's musky smell and the horrible dank taste of his dick as well as the horrible sensation of it running across Ed's tongue made the situation even worse. He wanted to hurt the man above him and attempted to bite down on the guys cock, however one of the hands holding Ed's face was used to deliver a harsh slap over the side of Ed's face. Ed winced in pain and the Big Guy pushed himself deeper into Ed's throat, making the younger choke slightly.

"Try that again and you'll be getting more than a slap, kid." The man began thrusting harder and faster into Ed's mouth. The pain in his cheek, the humiliation, the violation all wore Ed down slightly. Tears of frustration and anguish began to fall down Ed's cheeks. _I don't want to be here! Where's Al? Please tell me he isn't here to? He can't go through this!_

The Big Guy's thrusts were turning more erratic and were becoming harder. It took all Ed had not to puke, his gag reflex going being pushed to its limit. Soon the man stopped, a disgusting, thick liquid spurting into Ed's mouth. The man moved backwards, his dick slopping out of Ed's mouth. Ed fell forward, spitting out whatever had come from that man and attempting to get his breath back.

The older man began to put his clothes back on. "I hope you've learnt your lesson. Welcome to the business, you belong to me now." And with that he left, leaving Ed alone to come to terms with what had just happened, and left him to think about how much worse this situation could get.

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"Come on Chief! The trucks about to leave!" Havoc called, waving his hand to try and get Roy's attention. It had been a week since the fight at the inn, a week since Ed had been captured, and the team had no leads on his whereabouts. It went without saying that the event put a low atmosphere over the group. Al was devastated, a row had been had between Al and Roy, the younger blaming the General for not protecting his brother, but apologised later, realising that it had not been Mustangs fault. No, the only ones to blame were the men who started the fight, the men who had actually taken his brother. However not only Al was affected strongly by the events of that night. Though Roy knew it wasn't directly his fault he still wished he could have saved Ed, it must have been possible to do, but at the time he had no chance.

Climbing into the truck with the rest of the team, the gang made their way back to Central Command. There they could begin searching properly for Ed but first they needed to find a lead; and that was going to be very difficult to find.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! Sorry about the wait! Final exams and stuff. But anywho just some warnings I guess - this chapter does contain a depressed Roy with mentions of alcohol abuse and contemplative suicide, those people of a sensitive nature (actually if you've managed to get this far im rather impressed) or anyone who feels reading that kind of material would effect them, then i advise either to not read this chapter or read of your own discretion.

Also I do not own FMA. And with that- Happy reading, please R&R x

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Chapter 3 

Bright light shone through the bedroom window; apparently he'd forgotten to close them last night. Roy rolled over to avoid the light, attempting to fall back asleep, but that wasn't going to work because-

"Morning gorgeous." The woman smiled sweetly, giving Roy a small wink while she eyed his sleepy frame. This was Vanessa. The two had known each other for a while now; they'd met after Madame Christmas introduced them when Vanessa had begun working at the bar. Since Roy and his team had been back from Ishval, he'd become very close to Vanessa. Very close. However she was not the only one. Since returning from Ishval Roy had become very close with most women in the vicinity, Vanessa made his 9th this week. Yes she was very beautiful, and she was extremely good in bed, but once she left the front door of his house, she wouldn't receive a call from him. They wouldn't go on a date. Their relationship would never amount to more than a one night stand. And this was the same with the other girls this week.

"Hey." Was all Roy could manage, trying not to let disappointment show in his eyes that he hadn't found a potential partner in her. Sensing that something was wrong, feeling she might have overstayed her welcome she rose from the bed and began to dress, Roy did the same. Both tried to keep up a casual conversation as the silence which sometimes enveloped the room was too awkward. She knew she was only there to fill the empty bed that one night. She hoped that she might be the lucky girl to receive a call from him later that day, but she also knew that there was hardly a chance that that would happen.

As Roy held his front door open for her, they shared an uncomfortable goodbye kiss, before Vanessa turned and left. "Shit." He mumbled to himself, dragging his hand through his hair, clawing slightly at his scalp to see if he could still feel pain anymore.

He could not stand being alone anymore; the loneliness was eating away at him. To most people Roy Mustang was the incredibly dorky womaniser who couldn't be bothered to do his paperwork. Most people who saw Roy in the street would look upon his smiling face and see pure content in his eyes. Little did they know that the smile was killing him, the look in his eyes was not that of contentment but of being drunk. He had found that whiskey, at any time of day, was the perfect antidote for a lonely heart. The more he drank, the more numb he became. Numbness towards pain both external and internal, numbness in his mind which slowed his thoughts to a speed he could cope with, numbness to the world. The numbness made him feel weightless, like nothing mattered anymore. However there were times when not even the numbness could block out the hell inside his head.

_**You couldn't save your friend. You had the chance to redeem yourself, to save your subordinate, but you failed that too.**_

_**You are a failure. **_

_**A pathetic, useless, failure. **_

_I tried._

_**You failed. **_

Throughout work Roy forced himself not to drink. He could have easily brought a hipflask with him to swig through the hard times, but he needed his job. He couldn't let Hughes down, he'd made a promise to get to the top. Also it was his only chance to find Ed.

_**What are the chances he's still alive? You wanted to ring his neck when he was here sometimes; chances are the people who took him have done worse.**_

_He's still alive, he has to be. Besides I never wanted to kill the kid, he was just a jerk sometimes. _

_**Why has he got to be alive? What's it to you? **_

_He's my subordinate. My responsibility. I brought him into this line of work, into a world of danger. I should have protected him. _

_**It's pathetic. YOU are pathetic. You couldn't even save one little kid, now you can't save yourself from the hell inside your head. **_

_I don't need to DEAL with the hell inside; I just have to bear it. _

_**Bear it? Bare what part? You're missing your best friend as if he were the love of your life? Or you find it hard to **_**bare **_**the work load from your promotion? That you can't seem to find **_**the ONE **_**to settle down with? Or that you're back to being a drunkard? Do you really think you can hide this from everyone?**_

_I can. No one needs to know. I don't want to burden them with my problems. _

_**Go to a councillor? That's what they're there for. **_

_Yeah and have them admit me to a psych ward that'll help. _

_**THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST FUCKING DIE? YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLES HELP, YOU DON'T WANT TO HELP YOURSELF. YOU ARE WEAK AND PATHETIC AND IF THAT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE THEN YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST BUMP YOURSELF OFF THIS FUCKING PLANET.**_

…

That was always an option. He'd contemplated the idea before; ran through all the possible ways to do it, trying to figure out the way with the least pain. He'd even thought about whether he'd bother leaving a note. _Who would care to read it? _But if he did leave one, he'd thought about what he might write. Whether he would say he was sorry even though he wouldn't be. Or whether he would explain to whoever read it the hell inside his head which had pushed him over the edge, whether he would explain his recent actions and temperament.

But no. Suicide wasn't an option.

Yes his team could cope without him, but they would definitely be sad. He wasn't holding himself above anyone else; it was just natural to be sad when someone you know dies. He didn't want to cause them unnecessary sadness or the hassle of getting used to his replacement. Also what if Ed _was _still alive? How could he just leave the boy? He needed to find the boy, dead or alive, then make his decision.

_**You are helpless.**_

_**Yes. But I'm still alive.**_


End file.
